IVF

What is IVF?

In simple terms IVF is when your eggs are collected, mixed with your partner’s or donor’s sperm, and once fertilised placed back into your uterus to become a normal pregnancy.

What are the steps of IVF?

You will start daily injections of hormonal drugs to stimulate your ovaries to produce a number of eggs. You will be shown how to give yourself the injections by one of our nurses. Over the next 10 – 14 days, ultrasound scans are performed to monitor the development of the egg-containing follicles within the ovaries. Once the scans show the follicles have reached sufficient size a last injection is given to trigger the final ripening of the eggs.

Egg collection takes place 36-38 hours after the final injection. For the egg recovery you will be given sedation whilst the eggs are retrieved using a vaginal ultrasound guided technique in our Procedures Room.

The eggs are carefully identified in the laboratory and placed in culture dishes before being mixed with your partner’s or donor sperm, which has been suitably prepared. In some cases where your partner is not able to produce a sperm sample it is possible to use the surgical sperm retrieval technique which will have taken place previously.

Fertilisation should then occur several hours later and is assessed the morning after the egg collection; on average we expect 50-60% of eggs to fertilise normally. Great care is taken to keep your fertilised eggs (now termed embryos) in optimal conditions for development, with minimal disturbance and careful monitoring of the incubators and culture media they are grown in

The embryos are assessed on the appropriate days after egg collection (see Embryo grading), and one or two of the embryos that are judged best quality are replaced inside your uterus at embryo transfer. This is a simple procedure that requires no sedation. Depending on the quality of your embryos and your age we usually transfer one embryo into your uterus but this will be discussed with you at the time. Any good quality remaining embryos can be frozen and used in future cycles.

You will then have to wait for about two weeks before you can take a pregnancy test. We know that this is stressful time and therefore we offer free counselling if you and/or your partner wish to talk to someone.

To help increase your chances of a successful pregnancy we offer some of the most advanced techniques including time lapse monitoring, assisted hatching and endometrial scratching.

Who is IVF suitable for?

IVF was originally developed to bypass blocked or damaged tubes.

It has also been found to be an effective form of treatment for couples where:

"Nurses here are all so lovely, very calm and reassuring from arrival through to the treatment and after care. Thank you for all your support."

"Everyone here has been so friendly, caring and personal – thank you. It has made what has been quite an emotional journey so much more bearable. We are not at the end yet but there is nowhere else we would rather be for our treatment. Thank you"

"As we stressed when we saw you, we couldn’t be more pleased with the services that Bath Fertility provides – and not just because we were successful first time with IVF and had two beautiful twins."

"Nurses and medical staff excellent. Both clinically professional and knowledgeable but with a caring and very human manner. They have all made a stressful process much more comfortable."

"Thank you so much to everyone involved. The whole process has been nerve wracking but you all made us feel comfortable and involved every step of the way."

"We are always very impressed by the care, attention and friendliness of staff at the clinic. Their approach instils trust at such an important and emotional time and we have every faith that everything is being done to ensure successful treatment."

"Couldn’t have been a better service and experience. Nurses were all fantastic and I feel very lucky to have been fortunate to attend this particular clinic. Such beautiful people – keep up the good work and many thanks."

"I just wanted to write to thank you so much, from the bottom of our hearts, for all of your help with helping us to conceive. We were thrilled that on our first attempt of IVF under the care of you that we have fallen pregnant."

"We felt extremely well cared for by you and all of your staff at Bath Fertility. We felt so well informed and cared for throughout the whole IVF process."

"We wanted you to know that as professionals ourselves, we were hugely impressed with every stage of our treatment, and all the staff that make it possible. The work you all do is truly amazing – my mother keeps saying “it’s a miracle” and I have to correct her and tell her it’s not a miracle, it’s science!"